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User blog:MA4585159/"Space Marine 2"
Project name: “Space Marine 2” Note: No copyright infringement intended. All Warhammer 40.000 source material belongs to Relic and Games Workshop. However, if any of this is used in actuality, I want a free copy (not localised)! Alright, first, I have to say that this game is Battlefield 3 in Wh40k. Except that I don’t play BF3, hence you’re free to make suggestions. And nothing short of that game can handle Wh40k the way people want it – vehicles, aircraft and a lot of explosions. Add the destruction engine from Red Faction: Guerrilla, which would cause buildings to realistically collapse after being rammed by a tank, for extra fun. Second, some of the non-Imperial fluff has escaped my reach, hence I’ll initially stick to the Catholic Space Nazis. And, finally, the target rating is 18+. Proper Gears of War-grade dismemberment to bloody bits. And narmy comments. Multiplayer The core concept is how armies are matched up. Basic factions are very mismatched. To list them all: Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Sisters of Battle, Khornate Space Marines and Daemons, Slaanesh Space Marines and Daemons, Tzeentch Space Marines and Daemons, Nurglite Space Marines and Daemons, Chaos Cultists (the Lost and the Damned), Necrons, T’au, Kroot, Craftworld Eldar, Dark Eldar, Tyranids and Orks. However, this is where balancing comes in. Imperial Guard gets almost twice as many players as opposing Space Marines. That’s “above average” against “below average”. This means the Marines end up outnumbered and have to be careful, because they’re overpowered: an Imperial Guard Colonel could lose to a normal Assault Marine in close combat. The balance via numbers is important. Another mechanic is Requisition, stolen from Gears of War 3’s Horde mode. Normal grunts (Eldar Guardians, Tyranid Gaunts) have no requisition cost, and hence can be spammed. Requisition is earned by killing, achieving combat objectives, and given at a passive rate as well. It is used to spawn as advanced character classes and request specialist gear and vehicles. Hence you can steal your team’s accumulated points and spawn as the Space Marine Captain, and be booted off immediately. Additional limitation is simple: headcount limit on advanced classes. You can’t have two Captains, Colonels, Farseers, Autarchs, Hive Tyrants, Chaos Lords, Greater Daemons, et cetera. The final mechanics are armies and superfactions. Armies are skins, voices and models that don’t affect game-play, like the Word Bearers or the Death Corps of Krieg. But superfactions are different. They’re the Imperium of Man, the Chaos Undivided and the Tau Empire. They include two to four factions on the same side, with modified Requisition costs to balance it out. Example: kill a few cultists with a lasgun, and you get a heavy bolter on your next run; slaughter a whole wave of ‘em, and you get to be a cute white-haired girl putting rockets into heretics; another rampage for the Empra, and you upgrade to a bog-standard Tactical Marine, hopefully around the time your enemy begins to do the same. Counterexamples would be Chaos, who don’t allow switching allegiances of Gods, and Tau, who work on equal footing with Kroot. Also, accessing advanced factions requires capturing and operating a strategic gimmick, e.g. a teleporter relay. Space Combat Space combat is two ships with sabotageable systems as independent indoor maps, connected by boarding torpedoes. E.g. a loyalist Battle Barge lines up to fight a Wraithship. Some of the Astartes board Caestus assault rams and head out. Many get shot by lasers, and some even make it back to base so they could wait for a new one. Those who do breach the hull end up in a random location and try to secure and destroy the point defence batteries of the ship to prevent the next wave from taking casualties. Alternatively, they could be planting a teleporter beacon in a hard-to-find location – as long as the teleportarium is functional. On the other hand, Eldar Howling Banshees try to escort the Fire Dragons to the enemy void shield generators, where the Marines station their Techmarines and purchase NPC gun servitors; should the Eldar succeed, enemy fire will start to slowly tear the barge apart. Obviously, each race has its peculiarities in ship design – and remember how the xenomorphs in Aliens hid in plain sight in the walls within their lair. Imagine getting through player-controlled Warriors when assaulting a Hive Ship... Sectioned Armour For characters that have any armour to speak of (which means at least carapace armor), damage to individual sections of it reduces the normal HP damage reduction provided by them. Even ceramite would at some point give way to lasgun blasts. Many cases have it as under-the-hood mechanics (said ceramite armour, or Tyranid chitin) whereas those that have possibility of external repairs (Space Marine) have a proper schematic on their UI. Interfaces Variably stylized, and with varied parameters displayed. IG only know how many shots and grenades they have and where the blasts are going; damage to HP is displayed as, well, bleeding, crying, limping and screen effects. Same goes for fear. On the other hand, Aquila Mk VIII gives you a mini-map, advanced target read-out and some AdMech gibberish. Characters with extrasensory perception (e.g. psykers) go even beyond that. Said psykers see the silhouettes of hostile and enemy characters even if they can’t see said characters, for example. Imperium of Man Superfaction with a lot of troops of varied quality, the Imperium is fractured and beset on all sides. Note: infantry unit costs are indicated as when playing as independent faction. Space Marine “zero” is Imperial “high”; Sisters of Battle start at “medium”. Adeptes Astartes Superhuman warriors with heavy powered armour and mighty weapons, they have fewer numbers than normal. Their infantry is tough, while their vehicles lag behind the might of the Imperial Guard. They also aren’t big on subtlety, and can’t make much use of cover. Armies The following section contains a list of forces that don’t stray significantly from the classes below and hence can be represented by the team. *Ultramarines. It was inevitable, but this allows casting Titus as the Captain. Primary colour: light blue (ultramarine). *Blood Ravens. Also inevitable, as they have been in every Relic Wh40k game. Gabriel Angelos (pre-Retribution) as the Captain. Primary colour: red. Most assets shared with Ultramarines. *Imperial Fists – a First Founding Chapter adept at defense, it held the walls of the Imperial Palace during the Battle of Terra. Much of assets shared with Ultramarines. Captain – Lysander? Primary colour: yellow. Speak with a German accent. *Crimson Fists – the descendants of the Imperial Fists and mostly similar, but wear dark blue, speak with a Hispanic accent and have a habit of being unkillable. Even their tanks are heroic! *Space Wolves – Space Vikings, their equipment is unmistakeably decorated and their units have unusual names, but at the core they’re still Space Marines. Primary colour: bluish grey. *Iron Hands – have affection for cybernetics, hence their characters are heavily metal, and have the voices to match. Primary colour: black. Additional options: Raven Guard, Salamanders, Dark Angels. Too lazy to describe them right away. Classes Space Marine Captain The boss. Not only he has impressive buff abilities and doesn’t bother with helmets or cover, he serves as a bullet magnet. But he has an Iron Halo – a force-field-based regenerating layer of defence. So not only his faith is his shield against your headshots. Also, he comes wielding a Power Sword and a Bolt Pistol by default. Optional Wargear (comes for free, but can only take one of the following): Thunderhammer, Plasma Pistol, Umbra-pattern Bolter with 60-round drum magazine Cost: high Limit: 1 per team Librarian A Space Marine psyker, with an array of deadly attacks and buffs that warrants further investigation. Armed with either a Bolt Pistol and a deadly, soul-rending Force Sword, or a Librarian Staff that launches bolts of psychic energy. Can buy psychic defensive barriers, or can just take cover when using the staff. Cost: high Terminator Tactical Dreadnought armour is extremely resilient and can crush through cover. When the obstruction can’t be crushed, the built-in teleporter pack can be activated. Built-in Melee Weapon is the Power Fist. Optional Wargear: Storm Bolter with Cyclone Missile Launcher (krak and frag missiles automatically selected; lock-on system for krak), Heavy Flamer with Chainfist (extra melee damage), Assault Cannon, Thunderhammer with Stormshield (held up front when using Aim Down Sights, immune to all damage), Lightning Claws (area-of-effect) Cost: high Apothecary A Space Marine trained in the use of medical gear. Not that he can’t use his Chainsword or Bolt Pistol effectively, or cover from enemy fire while doing his job. His wrist-mounted Nathecarium has four functions. Killed Marines can have the progenoid glands removed to recover some requisition, knocked-down Marines can be revived, wounded Marines can be healed and healthy Marines can get a stim-pack. Cost: medium Techmarine Acts in a similar way, but uses an Artificer Bolter and attacks with his Servo Arms. Can fix armour and vehicles. Sometimes spawned when a player purchases a vehicle. Cost: medium Tactical Marine A flexible general rifleman that can use large cover to survive in a gunfight. His melee weaponry is limited to a nasty Combat Knife. Base gear is three Frag Grenades, a Bolter and a Bolt Pistol. Additional Wargear (pay up!): Stalker-pattern Bolter, Plasma Gun (injures user when overheating), Melta Gun, Flamer, Chainsword, Combat Shield (wrist-mounted) Cost: none Devastator Marine The guns he wields are so big he cant’s take cover, and he braces himself so he can’t move in ADS; his melee attack is very weak, but he at least doesn’t need to pause to reload his main weapon. Optional Wargear: Heavy Bolter, Lascannon, Missile Launcher (frag and krak – manual switch, TV manual guidance), Plasma Cannon (beware – explosive), Multi-Melta Cost: low Assault Marine Melee expert that comes stock with a Type 12 jump pack, Bolt Pistol and Chainsword. Bonus armour is the beloved Mk VI Corvus, the “beakie”. Optional Wargear: Blind or Melta Grenades Additional Wargear: Plasma Pistol, Hand Flamer, Power Axe, Power Fist Cost: low Scout Marine Lacks power armour and is weak in melee, but is fast, can take cover where normal humans can, has a grapple launcher to stealthily access perches, and wears a camo cloak that makes him a glass shadow. Optional Wargear: Bolter and Frag Grenades, Shotgun and Blind Grenades, Sniper Rifle, Grenade Launcher (frag, blind, smoke) Cost: low Vehicles Space Marine vehicles are focused on giving maximum firepower to a limited number of people. Attack Bike Big badass single-seat bike with twin forward-firing bolters and the automatic melee attack, found at spawn points. Cost: zero Classes: all non-terminator Land Speeder It’s a high-flying skimmer. Which means it can switch from a fast, hovering, strafe-capable vehicle to a low-altitude aircraft. However, the driver has no weapons per se, and has to ask a buddy to man the Heavy Bolter. Additional Wargear: Assault Cannon (driver-controlled), Multi-Melta (replaces heavy bolter) Classes: all non-terminator Cost: low Land Speeder Typhoon Single-seat up-armoured version reserved for Assault Marines (because of the ejection seat, which means you can goomba-stomp the guy who shot you down), it mounts the Terminator-class Assault Cannon and Cyclone Missile Launcher by default. It is also faster and I used as a light fighter. Cost: medium Thunderfire Cannon A rarely-seen weapon, it’s simply a quad minigun of enormous calibre on a self-propelled mount. The Techmarine operating it has to walk beside it instead, and it has to spend 0.5 sec to set up, but the hail of fury that ensues is worth it. Cost: medium Razorback An upgraded variant of the Rhino APC, this vehicle has decent armour and transport capability while toting a twin Heavy Bolter controlled by the driver. Classes: all non-terminator Additional Wargear: Autocannons, Smoke Launchers Predator Astartes main battle tank, comes in several variants. Crew: 2. Always comes with a pintle-mounted Strom Bolter, and the secondary gunner also controls the sponsons. Classes: driver – Techmarine, gunner – Techmarine or Tactical Optional Wargear: *Destructor (main gun - autocannon) with sponson-mounted heavy bolters *Destructor with sponson-mounted anti-tank lascannons *Annihilator (main guns – lascannons) w/heavy bolter *Annihilator w/lascannons Cost: high Whirlwind Rhino-based rocket artillery. Classes: Techmarine Optional Wargear: Hyperion SAMs Land Raider Extremely well-armoured war machine of the Astartes, providing unparalleled firepower to its driver, and a little bit of firepower to a passenger via the pintle-mounted Storm Bolter. Comes standard with frontal twin Heavy Bolters and sponson Godhammer-pattern lascannons, all of which can be brought to bear on enemy targets. Cost: very high Limit: 1/12 players Purchasable upgrades: *Sponsons: **Hurricane Bolters (six Heavy Bolters, linked, anti-infantry) **Inferno Cannons (heavy flamethrowers) **Twin-linked Multi-Meltas (close-range anti-everything) *Front: **Twin-linked Assault Cannons **Godhammer Lascannons (reduces troop capacity) **Thunderfire cannon (reduces troop capacity) *Misc: **Whirlwind missile launcher (eliminates troop capacity, incompatible with other upgrades that do that) **Advanced Augur (see through walls) **Extra Armour **Dozer Blade (also, extra armour) **Assault Frag Launchers **Power of the Machine Spirit (sponsons operate independently when not able to aim at the crosshair; when without a driver the vehicle approaches the closest Techmarine while still firing at enemies in sight) Category:Blog posts